


Time

by captain_sassy_socks



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, Episode: s04e12 Tangent, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26273839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_sassy_socks/pseuds/captain_sassy_socks
Summary: Today, time is her enemy, not her friend.
Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Carter/Jack O'Neill
Comments: 12
Kudos: 35





	Time

Too late.

They could be too late, regardless of their efforts.

Sam checks her watch again. Three minutes have passed. Three, not four, not five, only that damn stoic number which mocks her.

Today, time is her enemy, not her friend. The concept can be simple or complex, helpful or frustrating, but is always too short in the joyful moments and too slow in the painful ones.

Right now, it stretches into an eternity as the seconds trickle away, one after the other, steady and unhurried.

Sam doesn’t have that luxury as the lives of her teammates depend on her speedy arrival, and yet, she’s condemned to inactivity. For all her brilliance and genius, she can only wait and let time tug at her strained nerves, push her through an ocean of uncertainty and test her last shred of sanity.

Her fingers fidget, her left foot taps against the floor in a frantic rhythm, and her teeth grind against each other. The overwhelming urge to take another glimpse at her watch rises, despite knowing the futility of that action.

Every breath echoes in the tense silence like the harbinger of sorrow. Her racing heartbeat resounds in her ears while her anxiety increases and manifest the excruciating pain of remorse.

The entire disaster is her fault.

The drop out of hyperspace pulls her back into the here and now. Holding her breath, her eyes pierce the vastness beyond the windshield and wish for the glider to appear.

Time freezes as the plain gray chunk of metal comes into sight.

With trembling hands, she grabs the radio and contacts the Colonel. Desperation and hope cling to every word, expecting a reaction, an answer, anything to soothe her nerves.

Nothing.

Sam’s chest tightens in agony. They haven’t come this far to surrender and accept the gruesome truth. Stubbornness pushes them to enable a risky maneuver. Her fingers grip the console in front of her as they nudge the spaceship.

One grueling second merges into another before the unconscious Colonel wakes up and greets her, disorientated but responsive.

Time has become her friend again. However, the victory remains fragile since she needs a little more, just a blink to get them on board the scout ship, safe and alive.

When the Colonel re-materialize in the cargo bay and smiles at her in relief and gratitude, Sam’s equilibrium restores itself and time blends back into the cosmic fabric as if nothing happened.

Still, her restless mind recalculates the odds and concludes they were lucky to have made it just in time.

**Author's Note:**

> A little writing exercise to get back into the flow for 'Trapped'.


End file.
